Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Stefano Secco and John Relyea
Photo: Cory Weaver/SFO 2010

The third, and for me final, production of San Francisco Opera’s 09/10 season was Gounod’s Faust. I always have mixed feelings about seeing this opera because I continue to feel it’s a great work, but more often than not it seems to be treated with little respect or care when it arrives on stage, at least here in the U.S. I often hear other opera fans speak of it with derision, and it hardly seems like a “greatest hits” kind of show like Butterfly or Bohème. And yet, it appears time and again, as in San Francisco this weekend where it is almost like an afterthought compared to the attention and focus placed on the house’s other summer productions, La Fanciulla del West and Die Walküre. While the conducting duties of these other productions were handled respectively by San Francisco Opera’s current music director, Nicola Luisotti, and the former one, Donald Runnicles, Faust was under the guidance of Maurizio Benini. He’s an affable enough presence, I suppose, but musically, this Faust was pretty lifeless and often heavier than it needed to be. The absent lightness of touch that can make or break many of these French masterworks was in short supply on stage as well. While I do like Patricia Racette, she seemed a bit of an odd choice for Marguerite. After seeing her excel recently as both Butterfly and Suor Angelica, I’ve begun to think she comes alive most when there’s some meat and heft to her roles. Her Faust was Stefano Secco, a tenor I’ve liked elsewhere including as Don Carlo in Paris a couple of years back. This time around I felt he was a little tight in his upper register, but certainly made the most of Act II anyway. I never felt much connection between Faust and Marguerite here, but I can't say why that is. John Relyea sang Méphistophélès with a gleefulness that was certainly dark if not exactly creepy. He appeared sober throughout this performance, a trait not common among all basses I’ve witnessed in this production, so he gets big points for professionalism.

The well traveled production from Jose Maria Condemi and Robert Perdziola is efficient and not unattractive, but it’s not going to win anyone over without some kick-ass musical performances to bolster it. And though I consider all of these vocalists worthwhile performers, this was not the team that was going to sell this opera. Even the production itself appeared to be watered down. When I saw the same staging in Chicago last year, one of the creepier moments occurred in the church scene in Act IV where the large crucifix next to Méphistophélès inverts as Marguerite runs from the stage to avoid his taunting threats of eternal damnation. Not so in San Francisco on Sunday. I hope it was a technological glitch or shortcoming of some kind as opposed to any timidity over offending the sensibilities of local audiences. In any event, it was rather an unremarkable afternoon for a very beautiful opera. The production runs through July 1 for those wanting to brave the waters.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

Nina Stemme and Mark Delavan
Photo: Terrence McCarthy/SFO 2010

Night two of my weekend in San Francisco included the very well-reviewed production of Wagner’s Die Walküre, which San Francisco Opera is rolling out this summer in advance of its upcoming presentation of the complete Ring cycle in 2011. The good news is that musically it is all it’s cracked up to be. The orchestra under maestro Runnicles is superb with no flagging strings or flubbed brass lines to be heard. The cast is uniformly strong with no real weak links. But better yet, there are a few performers that are among the world’s best in these roles. The Brünnhilde both here and in next year’s Ring cycles is Nina Stemme who is undoubtedly without a serious challenger for the title of best currently performing Brünnhilde in the world. (That is since Christine Brewer doesn’t appear to be heading to the stage in a full-fledged production any time soon.) After weeks in Los Angeles listening to Linda Watson caterwaul her way through this part, hearing Stemme’s effortless turn in this role pretty much cleaned my clock. Mind you this was after she got a “please excuse me I’m sick” announcement from David Gockley before the start of the show. You’d never have guessed for a minute there was anything wrong from tonight’s performance. I was also taken with Christopher Ventris as Siegmund. It’s high time he got to sing Parsifal somewhere in the US (again) and his appearance in the new DVD release of Pfitzner’s Palestrina from the Bayerische Staatsoper is a must see. The other name that deserves the big spotlight here is Eva-Maria Westbroek who sang Sieglinde, a role she’ll perform at the Metropolitan Opera in 2011, but not in the San Francisco cycles next year. Westbroek has been long overdue for her first American appearances after developing quite a reputation in Europe in roles from Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth to Jenufa. Her clarity, power, and brilliance here were jaw-dropping. (Her website indicates that Isolde is scheduled to enter her repertoire in 2013. And who says there's nothing to look forward to in opera?)

So there’s plenty of reasons to go see this Die Walküre even though it might have worked much, much better as a total opera experience if it weren’t for Francesca Zambello’s middle-brow staging. Imported to San Francisco following Washington National Opera’s aborted plans for a complete cycle in 2009, Zambello’s “American” cycle draws on images from 20th-century American history in a standard post-Chereau sociopolitical interpretation of Wagner's work. It’s not bad looking and frankly about a decade ago it would have been decidedly above average. Unfortunately “average” has moved over the last few years with ground-breaking visions from La Fura dels Baus and Achim Freyer that have called into question this approach still rising out of the ashes of Shaw. Even the early hints of coming work from Guy Cassiers in Milan and Robert LePage in New York would suggest Zambello is going to need to bring much more to the table than parachuting Valkyries, abandoned freeways, and the ever-present trench coat to maintain any relevance. Even worse than the gimmickry here, there's a real telegraphing of emotional content where the production manhandles the music. To watch Wotan and Brünnhilde embrace on cue with the musical climaxes in Act III has all the thoughtfulness of a German language telenovela. Still, I wouldn’t miss this cycle for the world (and have already ordered my tickets for next year) if for no other reason than to hear this fantastic orchestra under Runnicles and Nina Stemme. And while opera is most certainly theater, a great musical performance can make it all worthwhile.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

Salvatore Licitra and Deborah Voigt
Photo: Cory Weaver/SFO 2010

Much to my surprise, and perhaps against my better judgment, I found myself rather enjoying San Francisco Opera’s current production of Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West last night. Admittedly, it’s not an opera I was overly familiar with going into, so it may have benefited from my having little in my mind to compare it to. On paper, this Fanciulla had a number of strikes against it. First off was a big-ticket “celebrity” cast comprised of several individuals whose track records are increasingly spotty at best. Salvatore Licitra is not a name that makes me want to buy a ticket to anything, but his performance as Dick Johnson di Sacramento was quite good vocally. No snap, crackle, or pop here and there was comparably little strain in his upper register. This is the second time I’ve heard him perform admirably in recent years making me think perhaps I should reevaluate my position on him. Then there is Deborah Voigt as the titular Golden Girl. Of course, the party line these days is that she doesn’t have the voice she once did. And I will agree her top notes in particular can be shouted and shrill, but I think it’s unfair to put too much focus on the changes in her voice over time. She still shapes vocal lines with real beauty and her acting is quite good. Her San Francisco Minnie, the first of many she’ll sing with later stops in New York and Chicago, is convincing despite the Dale Evans leatherette get-up she has to wear here.

The production itself is clearly in love with Hollywood visions of the West. And while this isn’t a bad thing, the production is often hampered by a number of half-measures that keep it from being more than unobtrusively pleasant. Imported from Palermo under the direction of Lorenzo Mariani with sets by Maurizio Balò, the show kicks off with miners rappelling down a large red-hued rock wall that becomes a back drop for all the interiors in the rest of the opera. It’s immediately reminiscent of Ray’s Johnny Guitar, but one’s hopes for a Trucolor bath with the likes of Mercedes McCambridge are soon dashed with more run-of-the-mill visions of the old West. I liked the snow-covered cliffs surrounding Minnie’s wall-less cabin in Act II, and the field of oil lamps used for the final duet in Act I had an appropriate Romantic resonance. Of course, there is the obligatory live horse crammed into Act III which always comes off to me as more sad than spectacular in this day and age.

The major asset of this particular evening, though, was the San Francisco Opera orchestra under music director Nicola Luisotti. He reportedly is a big advocate of this piece and he led a performance that was Wagnerian in proportions. Not that it was overly serious or Germanic by any means, but it was played with a real Romantic flair and care that made an excellent case for the depth and complexity of Puccini’s score. And while the opera itself is weighed down with the numerous weaknesses of the libretto, Luisotti was having none of it, communicating much more than what was contained in the comparably insufficient words sung by the onstage characters. Which is never a bad thing for an opera to do.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

Diana Damrau and JDF vs. the world
Photo: Terrence McCarthy/SF Opera 2009

If there was anything that could possibly wash the bad taste of San Francisco Opera’s Salome out of my mouth after Saturday, it would have to be Laurent Pelly’s magnificent staging of La Fille du Régiment. After seeing the world, the production arrived with its tenor, Juan Diego Flórez, still attached to an opera company hell-bent on being an artistic also-ran. But sometimes just wanting to fill your big brother’s shoes as best you can works out, and it certainly did on Sunday. Although I’d seen the production in New York in 2008 and on DVD at least once since, it still induced big smiles and laughs. It also inspired awe not only in Flórez’ well-documented vocalism, but equally so from German soprano Diana Damrau. Damrau is taking over the role of Marie from Natalie Dessay for these San Francisco performances, which are a dry run for the revival of the show at the Metropolitan Opera this spring. Damrau does not quite have the sheer wild pixie energy Dessay has cornered the market on and paraded all over the world. However, Damrau's voice is warmer and richer, giving Marie a more innocent and girlish flair. She is also quite funny in the part and does manage to keep the energy level high in Pelly’s near-maniacal version of events. Damrau and Flórez are an operatic dream delivering a technically challenging performance with seeming effortlessness. I’ll admit that in New York Flórez seemed to have a sharp edge at times especially in the big showpiece, “Ah mes amis”. But here, away from the spotlight of the big New York opening, he sounded more natural and easy. Both stars are amazingly pleasing to hear.

And, even though the rest of the artistic team may not have had quite such celebrated names, the quality was just as good. I was especially thrilled to see Meredith Arwady in such a meaty comic role as the Marquise of Berkenfeld. She was superior throughout and clearly was having a good time doing it. Bruno Praticò sang Sulpice with great timing and energy. In the pit was Andriy Yurkevych making his U.S. conducting debut with a lively and well-paced turn. I did feel the chorus could have used a little more rehearsal time, but, frankly, given the overall quality of the show, it’s just quibbling. This is a radiant staging that matches Donizetti’s tone almost to perfection. Of course, there continue to be complaints from some quarters about the aggressively fervent approach Pelly takes towards comedy. But this is La Fille, not Götterdämmerung, and if you can’t get a little wound up and have some fun here, where can you? Bringing in this production may not have required any thought outside of connecting the dots for San Francisco Opera, but it was a very good move and the show is rightfully a huge success. There are two more performances this week.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

Nadja Michael as Salome
Photo: Terrence McCarthy/SF Opera 2009

Richard Strauss’ Salome is a landmark opera taking off from Wagner’s Tristan chord and throwing open the door to Twentieth Century music. Of course, you’d never know that from San Francisco Opera’s disastrous production of the work now on stage. In fact given Nicola Luisotti’s perplexing leadership in the pit, you might think the opera had been composed a half-century earlier than it was. It was no surprise these were Luisotti's first performances of the score - it sounded like it with all the drama leeched out of the music in favor of bland romantic smoothness. His unique achievement of the evening is to somehow make Strauss sound cliché.

But it’s not all Luisotti's fault, virtually nothing works in this short but seemingly endless train wreck. In the words of the immortal Jay-Z, it’s got 99 problems. But this time, the "bitch" is one. Needless to say, Salome doesn't work too well without a decent Salome. And while she may look the part, Nadja Michael isn't one. What she’s doing in this role is beyond me. She gulps down phrases before bounding into high notes that seem acquainted with pitch if not always the closest of friends. However, she’s can play with her and others' hair in that I'm-a-crazy-person way. She can be a commanding presence at times, it's just not a pleasant thing to listen to.

The production, directed by Sean Curran and imported from Opera Theater St. Louis, is minimal. Another gray box with a giant circular black cover to the cistern at the rear of the stage. When the cap is removed, a circular lens is revealed allowing Jokanaan to arrive in 007 fashion for his big scene. The set seems to be left over from the cheaper looking bits of the company's recent Il Trittico which I suppose is a thrifty maneuver if that's the case. It’s not very visually engaging and creates more questions than it can answer when combined with some banal, unsuccessfully updated costumes. What kind of killer land rodent are these soldiers with gold shin protectors worried about? Where is this opera set such that the all-around convenient sleeveless black hoodie is appropriate soldier attire? Heaven knows that I've got nothing against anachronism, but this really looks funny in a bad way. And don't get me started on Salome's dance. I know there is somebody for everybody in this world, but somebody is going to need some heavy duty dousing with Axe body spray to give off any sexy in this particular staging. On the plus side, Strauss only left us with the single act so if you make it through to the end, you're free to leave, which was undoubtedly the highlight of the evening.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

from Suor Angelica
Photo: Cory Weaver/SF Opera 2009

Everyone had told me that San Francisco Opera’s current production of Il Trittico was the show to see this fall. I’d heard glowing accounts of Patricia Racette who plays the three soprano roles in Puccini’s three one-acts - a feat she will repeat later this fall in New York. Plus everyone seemed to like the production from James Robinson, the recently appointed artistic director of Opera Theater Saint Louis who crafted an excellent staging of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles this past summer. So I was expecting to be blown away, which is not only unusual for a Puccini opera, but especially so for one that had been so spectacularly good here in Los Angeles last fall under James Conlon in a hybrid production from William Friedkin and Woody Allen. But in the words of the immortal Chuck D, don’t believe the hype. Don’t get me wrong; I think it's a worthwhile evening at the opera, but not one that will stick to your ribs if you get my drift. And while I love Patricia Racette as much as the next person, I have to admit I don't always love her in everything. In fact I don't even love her in the same role all the time. Her Butterfly here in Los Angeles was ho-hum, but I felt much stronger about it in New York. As for Il Trittico, I just wasn’t feeling her, although her acting was good. All I could think about is how much I would have loved to hear Sondra Radvanovsky sing these parts too.

from Gianni Schicci
Photo: Cory Weaver/SF Opera 2009

Of course not all the parts of Il Trittico are equal. It's all about the second act, Suor Angelica which featured Ewa Podles as the Princess opposite Racette in the title role. It was her eagerly awaited San Francisco debut. Podles' contralto was one of those voices you don’t ever forget. Her acting was superb as well, creating an intense presence that eclipsed everything in the brief time she was on stage. Robinson's staging was quite strong with the convent of the original moved into the day room of a Catholic children's hospital for a sharp modern look. It was heart wrenching, as the opera should be, but this was a darker than usual turn. Prior to her suicide, Angelica covers the face of the Virgin Mary statue in the day room to shield its eyes from what she is about to do. In Angelica’s last moments as she lies alone on the tile floor about to die, crying out for a sign of forgiveness from the Virgin Mary, one of the young children who had previously visited the day room returns to stare at her through the glass doors. The production seems ambivalent as to whether this was a vision of Angelica’s own son revealed to her by the Virgin Mary or just a child who’d wandered down the wrong hallway. It may have been a sign, but Robinson steers hard away from the phantasmagorical implying that Angelica may not have found the redemption she begged for.

Brandon Jovanovich from Il Tabarro
Photo: Cory Weaver/SF Opera 2009

Suor Angelica was the only piece of the evening that didn’t involve the production's other highlight, Paolo Gavanelli, whose booming baritone marked the strongest singing in the evening's other works, Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi. He easily outclassed Racette in both. He also outclassed both conductor Patrick Summers and the rather cheap looking sets in both segments. The bookends to the evening were all about wall coverings be they brick and iron or psychedelic black and white shapes or a badly realized out-of-perspective photograph of Florence. Meanwhile down in the pit, Summers led a rather ham-fisted performance marked by a lack of lyricism and dynamics. Talk about making the argument for the importance Nicola Luisotti has in this company – here is exhibit A. I would also be remiss not to mention Brandon Jovanovich as well, considering his uber-sexy self as Luigi in Il Tabarro. Sure, it’s not clear what this Slavic (via Montana) heartthrob is doing on this particular barge in the middle of Paris, but he actually warmed up to a rather impassioned lover onstage before it was all over.

So, if you were pressed to see only one opera in San Francisco this month, although I know that Il Trittico is the relative rarity, Il Trovatore is probably still the all-around most satisfying production. But you wouldn’t be miserable if things broke the other way – which is always a major accomplishment for a Puccini opera.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

from Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Photo: Cory Weaver/SF Opera 2009

Saturday brought San Francisco Opera’s new production of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail or, as its more popularly known to the SF Opera marketing department, The Abduction from the Seraglio. Of course by “new” I mean new to Chicago last Spring and now appearing here in a co-production arrangement. Entführung is a difficult opera to do with its combination of broad comedy, spoken dialog, and 18th century exoticism. As usual, I found myself wanting a little more abduction and a little less seraglio during the evening, but it was by no means a waste. The production is one of those affairs from director Chas-Rader Shieber and designer David Zinn who seem omnipresent in the U.S. these days. I think I’ve decided that I prefer Zinn’s work to Rader-Shieber’s in that more often than not, the sets look fine but the action taking place within them seems far less compelling. This Entführung is set in a model of an 18th century theater complete with footlights, fire curtain and backdrops. The team cleverly avoids the play-within-a-play set up by not putting one in the production. However, it does raise the questions of why the action is taking place in a 18th century theater. I mean it looks lovely with great costumes and all, but the action is minimal besides the cast repeatedly jumping on and off the stage to the main stage below often for no rhyme or reason. It's an idea half-realized.

There are comic bits to be sure, especially from Blonde played expertly here by Anna Christy. But the laughs are few and far between and more often than not the cast is standing around looking for something to do. The vocalists were fine if not excellent. Matthew Polenzani sang Belmonte and Mary Dunleavy was Constanze. Both were pleasant enough but somewhat sloppy at the margins. Peter Rose was Osmin giving the most convincing performance of the evening although he doesn’t have the bottom notes for the part and his voice would periodically drop below audible in those passages.

My biggest complaint, though, is the whole flipping back and forth between German language for the music and English for the spoken passages. I find it distracting particularly when the English adaptation is as poor as this one was with its contemporary colloquialisms mixed with the “thou”s and “thee”s of somebody’s notion of speech from 200 years ago. It would be nice for a little consistency regardless of the overall direction. By all means if you’re worried about the language barrier, just sing the whole thing in English and be done with it. If not, leave it alone. It’s not like the audience is going to laugh at any of the lines of English dialog in this adaptation anyway. Still, this is Mozart and there is no doubt plenty of beautiful music, which conductor Cornelius Meister handled fleetly. The production continues through October 23.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10

Stephanie
Blythe and Dimitri Hvorostovsky
Photo: Cory Weaver/SF Opera 2009

Or at least that seems to be the lesson in San Francisco Opera’s current production of Il Trovatore, which is kicking off their 09/10 season this month. It’s one of those shows where there is so much wonderful world-class music making that it’s easy to enjoy while simultaneously being profoundly unexciting. The production itself is the rather plain-jane Goya inspired affair that, like virtually everything else in San Francisco this season, has already graced stages elsewhere in the country. It’s sad that a company which was presenting American premieres of important operatic works such as Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre and Messiaen’s Saint Francois d’Assise just years ago has been reduced to a wannabe Metropolitan or Lyric Opera of Chicago. There are certainly worse things to aspire to, but apparently San Francisco's opera company is a bit more comfortable in the follower role than the leader one.

But there are things to be said from traveling in the wakes of bigger ships - it will provide for some enjoyable and well sung productions of the standard fare. McVicar’s take on Il Trovatore has been both to Chicago and, earlier this year, the Metropolitan Opera with much the same cast. His sets are crammed into the much smaller San Francisco stage which ironically helps them somewhat by making the little activity that takes place in and around them look bigger and more involving. It's still mostly a stand-and-deliver sort of evening. The other benefits to this smaller framed outing are acoustic. It’s a great cast and here at the War Memorial Opera House, they actually get to sing like normal human beings instead of the juiced up machines required to fill the cavernous Met Opera house.

At the head of that pack is the freaking amazing Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora. I’ve heard her do this twice before both in LA and New York, but it’s still a wonder. She’s so good as a Verdi singer that she puts otherwise exceptional singers in a bind to keep up with her game. Dimitri Hvorostovsky is back as the Count di Luna, but on this particular Friday he sounded much more strained to me than previously. Stephanie Blythe who I tend to associate with lighter fare delivers an urgent and appropriately vengeful Azucena. Marco Berti was a serviceable if not exciting Manrico. Still, you’d be hard pressed to put together a better Trovatore cast anywhere and if you’re looking for a world-class cast of this opera that demands four players at the top of their games, this is it.

But if the evening belonged to anyone it was San Francisco’s new music director Nicola Luisotti. I’ve been ambivalent about him in the past, but he delivered a fantastic, lively performance that at points almost made the vocalists secondary. If San Francisco wants to be an “Italian House”, they have apparently made a very good choice. They may not be writing the next chapter in the opera history books, but its likely to keep subscribers happy with a steady flow of celebrities and great singing. Given Luisotti's presence, this Il Trovatore is worth seeing even with the scheduled casting changes later on before it closes on October 6.

Labels: SF Opera 09/10